What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would need affordable housing and better schools in DC to live near enough to my job to bike.

For metro: I suppose I could drive and park at the metro and then metro to work - but that would take longer than driving and cost more than gas (I get free parking at work).

This is a major factor in people's choices. When there is free parking, people are more likely to choose to drive by themselves than when they have to pay for parking.

That people take cost into consideration of their choices is not revolutionary insight. Time is also a cost that people take into consideration, which is something that you don’t seem to understand.

OP's question is: What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

So one answer is: if people who currently don't have to pay for parking would have to pay for parking.

However, life is offing hard enough as it is, and we shouldn't use sticks when we can use carrots to shape behavior, especially when what we'd consider as carrots is the bare GD minimum public service in Capitals around the world.
Let's continue to make it easier to use transportation modes that aren't cars. Take the burden of transporting thousands of independent kids to school away from parents in their personally-owned vehicles. Continue to grow public transit and protected bike lanes so that as they become safer and more convenient, they become the obvious choices.

The only "stick" we really need to step us is enforcement of traffic rules in the city, including ensuring MD and VA scofflaw drivers with tens of thousand of dollars in unpaid tickets for their dangerous driving and parking habits pay those tickets and fix their behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would need affordable housing and better schools in DC to live near enough to my job to bike.

For metro: I suppose I could drive and park at the metro and then metro to work - but that would take longer than driving and cost more than gas (I get free parking at work).

This is a major factor in people's choices. When there is free parking, people are more likely to choose to drive by themselves than when they have to pay for parking.

That people take cost into consideration of their choices is not revolutionary insight. Time is also a cost that people take into consideration, which is something that you don’t seem to understand.

OP's question is: What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

So one answer is: if people who currently don't have to pay for parking would have to pay for parking.

However, life is offing hard enough as it is, and we shouldn't use sticks when we can use carrots to shape behavior, especially when what we'd consider as carrots is the bare GD minimum public service in Capitals around the world.
Let's continue to make it easier to use transportation modes that aren't cars. Take the burden of transporting thousands of independent kids to school away from parents in their personally-owned vehicles. Continue to grow public transit and protected bike lanes so that as they become safer and more convenient, they become the obvious choices.

The only "stick" we really need to step us is enforcement of traffic rules in the city, including ensuring MD and VA scofflaw drivers with tens of thousand of dollars in unpaid tickets for their dangerous driving and parking habits pay those tickets and fix their behavior.

We can use sticks as well as carrots. In setting policy, we usually do use sticks as well as carrots. If you even think it's a stick to stop subsidizing "free" parking, vs. simply removal of a carrot to reward driving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm someone who has always lived in walkable neighborhoods and have always commuted to work by metro or bus. I do a lot of my errands on foot and use my cheap, compact car very little. But, there are simply circumstances in which public transportation will never be as easy or convenient for weekend errands, leisure activities, shopping, etc. The buses or trains don't run often enough, or the stops are not close enough to my destination, or it takes much longer than driving due to connections, transfers, wait times. I'll be carrying big or heavy things. The departure or destination or transfer points don't feel safe or it's too late at night. There will ALWAYS be occasions when I will choose the car.

As for biking, NOTHING will make me move by bike instead. I'm not a strong or skilled cyclist. I would not feel safe even in protected lanes due to faster, more aggressive cyclists. I'm old enough to worry about injuries, even if I'm healthy and fit. I don't want to have to adapt my clothes, accessories, hair just so that I can bike, wear a helmet. I don't want that much exposure to sun, car pollution, cold or hot weather. I don't want to have to purchase a good bike, a collection of safety gear, lights, reflectors, trailers, etc. in order to try to safely do the things by bike that I can easily and more quickly do by car.

And, there will always be plenty of people for whom biking is just not feasible due to the distances they have to cover, health, physical limitations, age, weight and fitness levels. It will never be a solution for everyone.

But neither are cars.

But OP's question is what would it take for people to use public transportation or bikes instead of cars, assuming there will be a solution that will eliminate motoring. The question posed is not why doesn't everyone use cars nor what will it take for everyone to use cars.

No, the OP is just asking what it would take for individual people to consider biking or taking the bus instead of driving. The OP is not asking what it would take to eliminate driving for everyone everywhere always.

Also, many of the answers are "Bikes bad, bus bad, Metro bad, cars 4 ever". I think that the people posting such answers cannot imagine a life where people, who are otherwise like them, can't or don't use cars every time they go anywhere for any purpose.

The PP was literally answering why they wouldn't bike and, while they do utilize public transport, cannot take public transport everywhere. Why are you so easily offended? Go for a ride, it's beautiful outside.

Where are you posting from? It's either raining or about to rain, everywhere in the DC region. Rain is good, but usually people don't say "it's beautiful outside" to describe the weather when it's raining.

Gloom can be beautiful. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Not having children. Before kids we rented an apartment in Cleveland Park (no yard, no home maintenance) and walked or took the Metro almost everywhere. What else did we have to do besides eat brunch and workout? Nothing!
I lived for years without a car in Cleveland and Chicago as well.

I live in a fairly walkable area. I can walk to the post office, library, bank, hair salon, dentist, a few restaurants, and a small grocery store that has basics like milk and eggs.

It is not practical to use the bus to shop at Target or to pick up a week of groceries for a family of 4. My kids have activities and I work full time. My office and my home are both a block from Wilson Blvd in Arlington and are less than 3 miles apart. I could take the bus except my kids need to be places at specific times and I don’t have time to wait for the bus and then walk from the bus stop to their school. Even if a bus came every 7 minutes, it only takes me 6 minutes to drive from my office to their school.

I can use my car to carpool in my fuel efficient car and plan my errands to batch them up and shop as close and local as possible - OR I could use the bus and Metro and buy everything from Amazon. I am pretty sure having shampoo shipped to my doorstep in a cardboard box is more wasteful than a shared trip to Costco with my neighbor every 3 months.

Public transit is not always automatically better.

People actually do this, though. Many people can't drive or don't have cars, and that is what they do. Maybe "inconvenient" would be a better word.

Some people do. Maybe they can’t afford a car or can’t drive for medical reasons. However I maintain that only using a bike or public transit is either done out of desperation or because it’s a lifestyle and how you define your personality. If biking everywhere is your hobby and exercise, great. For the rest of us with normal suburban lives with kids, I maintain that biking and public transit is not the hill to die on. Vehicle choice and usage can be part of a a bigger picture. Maybe I bike everywhere and tote my produce in cotton bags from the farmers market but I also fly to visit family in California 6 times a year or have hobbies like skiing or golfing that require massive water use for irrigation or fake snow. Is the dedicated biker who outwardly appears eco conscious really more noble than the family who drives kids 3-6 miles to sports multiple times a week but never flies for vacation and instead drives to the MD/DE beach or a State park once a year?

We're not talking about nobility. We're talking about transportation choices. Yours, mine, the OP's, whoever's.

We're also not talking about all or nothing. Maybe you could use your car for this trip but bike, walk, or bus for that trip. Or maybe you could use your car on some days but bike, walk, or Metro on other days. For people with "normal (middle-class) suburban lives with kids", cars are so much the default habit that it really takes an effort to do anything else. That's unfortunate. Sometimes there even are better, more pleasant, more convenient, cheaper non-car options, which people aren't even aware of, because cars are the default habit. Yes, we (in the suburbs) need more frequent buses, safer bike routes, and more sidewalks, but we (middle-class suburbanites) also need to change our mentality and our assumptions.

About 150,000 of the 190,000 FCPS students ride the bus every day. So almost all families in the suburbs are using transportation options other than cars for at least half of their trips.

Instead of inventing fictional people to judge, you should focus on yourself.

I am not judging you. So, why do you feel judged?

Yes, school buses are the only form of public transportation that "normal middle class suburban" people routinely use.

I never said you were judging me, did I? I said that you invented fictional people for the purpose of judging them, which is pretty sad. You should focus on your own choices.

You are inventing fictional people who are judging - well, I don't know who. Other fictional people, I guess.

Why are you so immature? Is it related to the fact that are online 24-7 posting about bicycles?

You know, I was thinking about this earlier. Is it only one poster who has the habit of calling other posters on this forum "immature"? I honestly don't think I've called anybody "immature" since I was in junior high, and that was during the Carter administration. The idea that someone would call me immature, honestly, it makes me giggle.

DP. You have proven the PPP correct. I would speculate that you are drawn to bicycles as a direct result of your stunted emotional maturity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would need affordable housing and better schools in DC to live near enough to my job to bike.

For metro: I suppose I could drive and park at the metro and then metro to work - but that would take longer than driving and cost more than gas (I get free parking at work).

This is a major factor in people's choices. When there is free parking, people are more likely to choose to drive by themselves than when they have to pay for parking.

That people take cost into consideration of their choices is not revolutionary insight. Time is also a cost that people take into consideration, which is something that you don’t seem to understand.

OP's question is: What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

So one answer is: if people who currently don't have to pay for parking would have to pay for parking.

However, life is offing hard enough as it is, and we shouldn't use sticks when we can use carrots to shape behavior, especially when what we'd consider as carrots is the bare GD minimum public service in Capitals around the world.
Let's continue to make it easier to use transportation modes that aren't cars. Take the burden of transporting thousands of independent kids to school away from parents in their personally-owned vehicles. Continue to grow public transit and protected bike lanes so that as they become safer and more convenient, they become the obvious choices.

The only "stick" we really need to step us is enforcement of traffic rules in the city, including ensuring MD and VA scofflaw drivers with tens of thousand of dollars in unpaid tickets for their dangerous driving and parking habits pay those tickets and fix their behavior.

We can use sticks as well as carrots. In setting policy, we usually do use sticks as well as carrots. If you even think it's a stick to stop subsidizing "free" parking, vs. simply removal of a carrot to reward driving.

A company providing their employees parking is not a “subsidy”.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure many of the people on this forum are well-traveled and took public transit elsewhere. Ask them why they were willing to do it there but not here.
I'll answer for them:
-Clean
-Safe
-No bums

[Anonymous]

I can tell you why I don't drive -- finding parking is a PITA. So I bus/metro everywhere unless I know there's a huge parking lot with free parking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would need affordable housing and better schools in DC to live near enough to my job to bike.

For metro: I suppose I could drive and park at the metro and then metro to work - but that would take longer than driving and cost more than gas (I get free parking at work).

This is a major factor in people's choices. When there is free parking, people are more likely to choose to drive by themselves than when they have to pay for parking.

That people take cost into consideration of their choices is not revolutionary insight. Time is also a cost that people take into consideration, which is something that you don’t seem to understand.

OP's question is: What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

So one answer is: if people who currently don't have to pay for parking would have to pay for parking.

However, life is offing hard enough as it is, and we shouldn't use sticks when we can use carrots to shape behavior, especially when what we'd consider as carrots is the bare GD minimum public service in Capitals around the world.
Let's continue to make it easier to use transportation modes that aren't cars. Take the burden of transporting thousands of independent kids to school away from parents in their personally-owned vehicles. Continue to grow public transit and protected bike lanes so that as they become safer and more convenient, they become the obvious choices.

The only "stick" we really need to step us is enforcement of traffic rules in the city, including ensuring MD and VA scofflaw drivers with tens of thousand of dollars in unpaid tickets for their dangerous driving and parking habits pay those tickets and fix their behavior.

We can use sticks as well as carrots. In setting policy, we usually do use sticks as well as carrots. If you even think it's a stick to stop subsidizing "free" parking, vs. simply removal of a carrot to reward driving.

A company providing their employees parking is not a “subsidy”.

Of course it's a subsidy: a parking subsidy. Under certain circumstances, it's even a considered a fringe benefit by the tax code. Just like it's a transit subsidy for my employer to pay for my Metro fare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the minority here, but I love DC buses. I live in southern Columbia Heights between the U street and Columbia Heights metros and there are many bus options. So many up and down 14th street, up and down ~11th up to Ft. Totten, the crosstown H buses. I could go on. What makes it great is that there are so many options, so while the H2 may only come every 20 minutes the H4 also takes me just about where I need to go and they both stop a few blocks from my house. I take the bus to work every day because the 8 minute walk to the stop is a nice way to start and end my work day and because the bus ride takes the same amount of time as driving.

I love the buses because they work for me. Most people in the suburbs do not have the density of options that I do. That's what is needed - more buses that come frequently and reliably. Same for the metro, though that's much harder to do.

I don't ride a bike so no informed opinions there.

I am with you to a certain degree. I prefer the bus to the Metro and ride at least 2 buses daily to and from my home in Chevy Chase, DC to either my job near GWU or the Friendship Heights Metro Station. I live a good 20-25 minute walk from the closest Metro Station. Our closest bus route -- the E6 -- was eliminated, opportunistically by WMATA, during COVID.
However, after commuting via public transportation (including bike-share, bus, Metro, and walking) since we returned to a hybrid work environment in Fall 2021, I can honestly say that I wish I could afford to drive. I am so tired of checking bus schedules, waiting anxiously in vain for buses that fail to arrive, and standing, walking and rushing about in the rain, in the cold, and in the dark. I am oftentimes the only person on the streets walking home in the dark. Other routes, including the E4 and the L2 are okay, but often involve a 20-25 minute wait each, which added up, makes my commute of 7.3 miles last over an hour.

If I need to stop on my way home, for anything, I've got to figure out how to resume my journey and have had to expend energy at the end of a long day trying to hustle up and put together various modes of transportation, including bike share, bus, walking and Metro. It is utterly exhausting.

I'll gladly welcome free bus rides post 7/1 and will continue to commute via public transportation; however, it'll be only because I cannot afford to park downtown that drives this choice, not because it's easier or more convenient -- because it's not for me. Relying on public transportation in DC -- again, at least for me -- is inconvenient, very time-consuming, frustrating, restricting, and inefficient as a daily option.

I'm the PP you responded to. Your points are fair. It is annoying to have to triangulate between multiple sources to figure out what the real arrival time is for each bus. Sometimes the WMATA app is accurate, sometimes it's right on DC Next Bus, and sometimes it's Google Maps. I think my biggest gripe is less about how often the buses and metros come and more about just giving riders a consistently accurate source for the next arrival at every stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As we all know, the use of personal vehicles has a significant impact on the environment and presents safety issues to others in the public space, such as pedestrians and bicyclists. For everyone's benefit, it's going to become increasingly important to explore alternative modes of transportation as we get deeper into the 21st century.

To that end, DC and many other big cities are beginning to implement more pedestrian-friendly street and intersection designs, in addition to dedicated spaces for other modes of transportation such bikes and buses over the exclusive use of personal vehicles. I'm familiar with the pushback that a small but vocal minority has made in framing this as a 'war on cars', as they feel their entitlement to exclusive use of the right-of-way is being threatened.

What I find interesting in all of this is that many of these skeptics look at the installation of bus-only lanes or protected bike lanes and NEVER seriously consider personally switching to those other modes now that they are faster, safer, or more convenient. Instead, many seem to express antagonism or cynicism reflexively, possibly because they 'identify' as motorists and would never stoop so low as to take the bus or bike?

Ok, perhaps I'm projecting a bit. But for many of these skeptical folks evidently these measures are not far enough to overcome the legacy car culture this country has, or the perceived convenience or benefits of driving. So I am curious to know what it would realistically take for DC motorists to consider walking, riding a bike or taking the bus to get to work, run errands, etc.

For instance:
What if work or shops were closer to homes?
What if bus stops were located on your residential corner and came every 5-7 minutes dependably?
What if the roads were redesigned so that the bike lanes were universal and protected, or adjacent to sidewalks (not in the roadway)?
What if stores provided free and secured bike parking/valeting?
What if buses were free, and the purchase of e-bikes/cargo bikes was heavily subsidized?

I'm interested in hearing the DCUM community's thoughts and ideas on the matter.

There is nothing. Love cars. Want to drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would need affordable housing and better schools in DC to live near enough to my job to bike.

For metro: I suppose I could drive and park at the metro and then metro to work - but that would take longer than driving and cost more than gas (I get free parking at work).

This is a major factor in people's choices. When there is free parking, people are more likely to choose to drive by themselves than when they have to pay for parking.

That people take cost into consideration of their choices is not revolutionary insight. Time is also a cost that people take into consideration, which is something that you don’t seem to understand.

OP's question is: What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

So one answer is: if people who currently don't have to pay for parking would have to pay for parking.

However, life is offing hard enough as it is, and we shouldn't use sticks when we can use carrots to shape behavior, especially when what we'd consider as carrots is the bare GD minimum public service in Capitals around the world.
Let's continue to make it easier to use transportation modes that aren't cars. Take the burden of transporting thousands of independent kids to school away from parents in their personally-owned vehicles. Continue to grow public transit and protected bike lanes so that as they become safer and more convenient, they become the obvious choices.

The only "stick" we really need to step us is enforcement of traffic rules in the city, including ensuring MD and VA scofflaw drivers with tens of thousand of dollars in unpaid tickets for their dangerous driving and parking habits pay those tickets and fix their behavior.

We can use sticks as well as carrots. In setting policy, we usually do use sticks as well as carrots. If you even think it's a stick to stop subsidizing "free" parking, vs. simply removal of a carrot to reward driving.

Okay but wouldn't you agree that it doesn't make sense to expend tons of policy energy forcing employees to use transit systems that still suck before doing enough to make them suck less? Having to wait 14 minutes for a busy bus at rush hour Downtown sucks especially when you have to take another one before you get home. It just doesn't make humane sense to use the stick before you're done doling out a very low bar basic level of the carrots, which means we must offer viable alternatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would need affordable housing and better schools in DC to live near enough to my job to bike.

For metro: I suppose I could drive and park at the metro and then metro to work - but that would take longer than driving and cost more than gas (I get free parking at work).

This is a major factor in people's choices. When there is free parking, people are more likely to choose to drive by themselves than when they have to pay for parking.

That people take cost into consideration of their choices is not revolutionary insight. Time is also a cost that people take into consideration, which is something that you don’t seem to understand.

OP's question is: What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

So one answer is: if people who currently don't have to pay for parking would have to pay for parking.

However, life is offing hard enough as it is, and we shouldn't use sticks when we can use carrots to shape behavior, especially when what we'd consider as carrots is the bare GD minimum public service in Capitals around the world.
Let's continue to make it easier to use transportation modes that aren't cars. Take the burden of transporting thousands of independent kids to school away from parents in their personally-owned vehicles. Continue to grow public transit and protected bike lanes so that as they become safer and more convenient, they become the obvious choices.

The only "stick" we really need to step us is enforcement of traffic rules in the city, including ensuring MD and VA scofflaw drivers with tens of thousand of dollars in unpaid tickets for their dangerous driving and parking habits pay those tickets and fix their behavior.

We can use sticks as well as carrots. In setting policy, we usually do use sticks as well as carrots. If you even think it's a stick to stop subsidizing "free" parking, vs. simply removal of a carrot to reward driving.

Okay but wouldn't you agree that it doesn't make sense to expend tons of policy energy forcing employees to use transit systems that still suck before doing enough to make them suck less? Having to wait 14 minutes for a busy bus at rush hour Downtown sucks especially when you have to take another one before you get home. It just doesn't make humane sense to use the stick before you're done doling out a very low bar basic level of the carrots, which means we must offer viable alternatives.

We can't improve the buses until more people ride them, and more people won't ride the buses until we improve them, and we can't improve the buses until more people ride them, and...

I don't think it would require the expenditure of tons of policy energy to stop some of the very, very many ways we subsidize driving.

[Anonymous]

Not happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would need affordable housing and better schools in DC to live near enough to my job to bike.

For metro: I suppose I could drive and park at the metro and then metro to work - but that would take longer than driving and cost more than gas (I get free parking at work).

This is a major factor in people's choices. When there is free parking, people are more likely to choose to drive by themselves than when they have to pay for parking.

That people take cost into consideration of their choices is not revolutionary insight. Time is also a cost that people take into consideration, which is something that you don’t seem to understand.

OP's question is: What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

So one answer is: if people who currently don't have to pay for parking would have to pay for parking.

However, life is offing hard enough as it is, and we shouldn't use sticks when we can use carrots to shape behavior, especially when what we'd consider as carrots is the bare GD minimum public service in Capitals around the world.
Let's continue to make it easier to use transportation modes that aren't cars. Take the burden of transporting thousands of independent kids to school away from parents in their personally-owned vehicles. Continue to grow public transit and protected bike lanes so that as they become safer and more convenient, they become the obvious choices.

The only "stick" we really need to step us is enforcement of traffic rules in the city, including ensuring MD and VA scofflaw drivers with tens of thousand of dollars in unpaid tickets for their dangerous driving and parking habits pay those tickets and fix their behavior.

We can use sticks as well as carrots. In setting policy, we usually do use sticks as well as carrots. If you even think it's a stick to stop subsidizing "free" parking, vs. simply removal of a carrot to reward driving.

A company providing their employees parking is not a “subsidy”.

Of course it's a subsidy: a parking subsidy. Under certain circumstances, it's even a considered a fringe benefit by the tax code. Just like it's a transit subsidy for my employer to pay for my Metro fare.

You just noted that it is an employment benefit but still try to claim it’s a “subsidy”. My free advice is to stop trying to pretend to be an economist, you don’t sound as clever as you think you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would need affordable housing and better schools in DC to live near enough to my job to bike.

For metro: I suppose I could drive and park at the metro and then metro to work - but that would take longer than driving and cost more than gas (I get free parking at work).

This is a major factor in people's choices. When there is free parking, people are more likely to choose to drive by themselves than when they have to pay for parking.

That people take cost into consideration of their choices is not revolutionary insight. Time is also a cost that people take into consideration, which is something that you don’t seem to understand.

OP's question is: What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

So one answer is: if people who currently don't have to pay for parking would have to pay for parking.

However, life is offing hard enough as it is, and we shouldn't use sticks when we can use carrots to shape behavior, especially when what we'd consider as carrots is the bare GD minimum public service in Capitals around the world.
Let's continue to make it easier to use transportation modes that aren't cars. Take the burden of transporting thousands of independent kids to school away from parents in their personally-owned vehicles. Continue to grow public transit and protected bike lanes so that as they become safer and more convenient, they become the obvious choices.

The only "stick" we really need to step us is enforcement of traffic rules in the city, including ensuring MD and VA scofflaw drivers with tens of thousand of dollars in unpaid tickets for their dangerous driving and parking habits pay those tickets and fix their behavior.

We can use sticks as well as carrots. In setting policy, we usually do use sticks as well as carrots. If you even think it's a stick to stop subsidizing "free" parking, vs. simply removal of a carrot to reward driving.

A company providing their employees parking is not a “subsidy”.

Of course it's a subsidy: a parking subsidy. Under certain circumstances, it's even a considered a fringe benefit by the tax code. Just like it's a transit subsidy for my employer to pay for my Metro fare.

It’s not a subsidy if the parking space has a market value of $0.